Watch Live: Congressional Hearing on IRS Scandal

Live BlazeCast at 2pm ET: All the fireworks from the IRS Hearing!

UPDATED: Military Vet Ordered to Remove Tiny American Flag From Patio: ‘I Saw the Flag Flying in Afghanistan, It’d Be Nice to See It Flying Here, Too’

Jan. 31, 2013 4:19pm Jason Howerton

UPDATE: Tyler Barge told TheBlaze on Friday that Riverwalk Apartments will allow him to leave his small American flag out on his patio.

“The apartment has agreed to allow the flag to remain on the patio! Riverwalk is owned by a Local Virgina based company. They were very apologetic about the whole issue and want it to be known they too support the US flag and what it stands for,” Barge wrote in an email to TheBlaze.

“I greatly appreciate all of the support that has been shown to myself and those we have lost fighting for freedom,” he added.

–

Tyler Barge describes himself as a proud military veteran. He was deployed to Afghanistan for nine months in 2011 where he served in the U.S. Army National Guard. He just returned home in March of 2012.

So, you can imagine his disgust when management at his apartment complex ordered him to remove the small American flag he had stuck into a pot of dirt on his patio.

Apartment Complex Orders Military Veteran Tyler Barge to Remove Small American Flag

(Credit: Tyler Barge)

“I like to keep a flag on display in honor of those who have died fighting for our freedom,” Barge, 22, told TheBlaze in an exclusive interview on Thursday. “I had the privilege of coming home and they didn’t. I try to do what I can to keep their memory alive.”

“I saw the flag flying in Afghanistan, it’d be nice to see it flying here too,” he added.

Barge said he received a notice from Riverwalk Apartments in Salem, Va. on Wednesday ordering him to remove the American flag, trash items, a broom and even a glass table from the patio.

“We need your help to keep our community one of the best in Salem! We need for you to remove the following items from your patio,” the notice read. It then listed the previously mentioned items. The notice went on:

Per our lease agreement we only allow the following times on your patio/balcony:

1. Patio furniture

2. Up to (3) working bicycles

3. Plants

The complex is giving Barge until Monday to remove the flag and other items.

(Credit: Tyler Barge)

As a veteran, Barge said he wanted to honor the flag, even if in a small way. He says he was well aware his lease prohibited him from hanging an American flag, so he opted to put out a small version of the flag in a pot of dirt instead. But the apartment complex is saying even that is unacceptable.

“Being a veteran and growing up with good patriotic parents, I’ve always had a flag out,” Barge told TheBlaze. “I didn’t think anything of it.”

Barge says he has served in the National Guard for nearly five years as an infantryman and is currently an E4 Specialist. He and 41 other soldiers from Virginia were deployed in June of 2011 to Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan to provide security for a multinational provincial reconstruction team.

Given the fact that the complex has only given him until Monday to comply, Barge said his wife has been trying to get in touch with the property manager to work something out so they can leave the flag on the patio. However, the property manager, identified as Tristan Byrely by the apartment complex, was “unavailable” on Wednesday and again on Thursday.

Byrely was also unavailable when TheBlaze called the Riverwalk Apartments on Thursday.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (327)

USN Patriot
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 6:06pm
@ towedjumper. How dare you try to confuse those poor liberals with facts. Dont you feel ashamed?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
FREEDOM 1776
Posted on February 6, 2013 at 8:33am
I realize that America is now the world’s last and final Plymouth Rock remaining. When America is of no longer a safe haven and the Constitution is of no more; I ask as for what Plymouth Rock can Americans and the rest of the world seek for shelter and comfort against a tyrannical Government now operating without boundaries?
-Clay Cooper USAF Ret.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
rootytoottootin
Posted on February 3, 2013 at 6:18pm
Such petty childish behaviour from so called adults become more & more frequent as I get older & this seems to me, to top the list that I have seen lately.
How utterly rediculous such a thing should happen.
Some people just have to rock the boat for no reason at all.
I too, will fly my flag when & where I choose, small or large.
Keep standing your ground on freedom Mr.Barge & this old woman salutes you!!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Chi-Fawn
Posted on February 3, 2013 at 1:09pm
The condo association says nothing trashy looking can be on the patio. So he should maybe ask what kind of patio furniture is acceptable. And the flag in the pot does look like it gives the place a non-upscale look. Even though he can’t put a flag outside at all they probably can’t bug him about what he has INSIDE the house. So there’s no reason he can’t hang a flag in the window. The asociation probably has reasons for why they want the place looking nice.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Livia
Posted on February 3, 2013 at 8:33am
Why on EARTH would anyone want to move into a place where someone can tell you what you must not do? I can understand rules about cutting grass, and keeping the yard clean. But something like this? Isn’t the patio normally in the back of the house or apartment? Who gets to decide what can and can’t be done? This seems like a situation where someone is standing guard over a person all the time, just waiting for them to step one foot over the line, so another someone can slap them down. I have never lived in a situation like that and never will. It seems too much like a prison setting to me.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
spirited
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 8:23pm
That Blazen rocks!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
LBRTYorDTH
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 12:45pm
Just take down your curtains and hang a flag over every window in the house. It will be seen from outside and hopefully piss them off.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
spfoam1
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 11:36am
I love the smell of apologies in the morning, they smell like…..victory.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
asybot12
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 2:40am
I am glad this is settled. But looking at the picture and its background (yard and trees). Who was this guy offending in the first place, yep one of his nosy neighbors!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
iwitnis
Posted on February 2, 2013 at 1:29am
RED is for Blood…and Sacrifice…WHITE is for Peace and Unity…..BLUE is for Strength and Power….Stars represent States united who are Enjoined to the Republic….a Constitutional Republic where Freedom and Liberty and Individual Sovereignty Reigns Supreme…what does a flag matter?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.